About half of all American adults say that they play games. But only 10 percent identify themselves as “gamers,” according to a report by the Pew Research Center.

The survey digs into some of the perceptions that we have about video games as a pastime for nerdy young males. I suppose that makes sense, as video games become a bigger part of mass culture. After all, who identifies themselves as a “movier”?

About 50 percent of men and 48 percent of women say they play games. But 60 percent of those surveyed said that they believe most people who play games are men. Pew found that 15 percent of men and 6 percent of women referred to themselves as gamers.（source：venturebeat.com ）

2，Hideo Kojima, one of Japan’s most-famous game developers and the creator of the long-running Metal Gear series, has formally left Konami Digital Entertainment, according to the Japanese publication Nikkei.

The Nikkei article said that Kojima plans to start a new game studio. Kojima published his first Metal Gear game in 1987. Since that time, 29 more Metal Gear games have appeared over many platforms. That’s a rare and storied achievement for any video game creator.

Kojima’s troubles with Konami have been well publicized this year, and it was expected that he would leave after the publication of his latest game, Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain.

The news is not a surprise. During the recent airing of The Game Awards, host Geoff Keighley said that a lawyer from Konami informed Kojima that he would not be allowed to travel from Japan to the U.S. to be present for the awards show.（source：venturebeat.com ）

3，The Japanese console developer Agatsuma Entertainment closed its doors on December 11, marking the end of a journey it started in 1997.

The Tokyo-based studio has struggled to earn revenue from its portfolio, according to an official document translated by Gematsu, and so its parent company, Agatsuma, decided to shutter its subsidiary to improve its overall stability.

Evidence of that struggle to improve its financial situation can be found in the release of its Umihara Kawase trilogy on Steam across October and November. According to SteamSpy’s data, however, that attempt was far from successful, with only Sayonara Umihara Kawase attracting more than 1,000 players.

Outside of Japan, Agatsuma’s other key release was Code of Princess for the 3DS, which was published in PAL territories in March 2013.（source：games industry ）

4，Remember Flappy Bird mania? Those truly were the good ol’ days. If you weren’t around for it, Flappy Bird might have been the biggest viral hit to ever grace the App Store. One day everyone was playing it, and Flappy Bird fever swept the globe. Flappy Bird was eventually removed from the App Store, but developer Dong Nguyen stayed in the spotlight through the release of Swing Copters [Free], another brutally difficult one-button game. Well, this holiday season, Swing Copters 2 is hitting the App Store.

Like the original, Swing Copters 2 will be totally free to play. In fact, the gameplay itself is pretty similar, with the main difference being the Crossy Road-ification of the title, with all sorts of unlockable characters to work towards. Each character, aside from looking a little different, also have different stats which control things like how quickly they fly up, how quickly they fly side to side, and their “handling” which seems to be how quickly they turn when you tap. Characters are unlocked by playing and earning medals, or by paying 99¢ a pop. Oh, and there’s ads too but they can be removed for a 99¢ IAP（source：toucharcade.com ）